Google has halted its Gemini AI model from creating images of people after receiving criticism for failing to depict white individuals. The controversy arose when users shared images generated by Gemini that predominantly featured people of color, leading to accusations of Google lacking awareness of white people’s existence. The search engine company acknowledged the issue and announced a temporary pause on the image generation of people as they work to release an improved version of the AI model.
The circulated images drew widespread mockery and outrage on social media, with users accusing Google of prioritizing “wokeness” over accuracy. Examples of the controversial images included depictions of non-white Swedish women and scenes of Black and Asian Nazi soldiers, prompting criticism and disbelief. Debarghya Das, an engineer at Glean, shared the difficulties of getting Gemini to acknowledge white people’s existence, accompanied by several images generated by the AI model. The incident is one of several setbacks faced by Google in its efforts to compete with rival OpenAI, as the tech giant apologised the previous year for inaccuracies in its AI chatbot Bard’s demo. This controversy highlights the ongoing challenges in ensuring diversity and accuracy in AI models’ results.
This news article features Google’s decision to temporarily halt the image-generation feature of its Gemini AI model after backlash over the model’s failure to depict white individuals. The controversy stemmed from images created by Gemini that predominantly featured people of color, sparking accusations that Google’s AI lacked awareness of a diverse representation of individuals. The article also highlights the widespread mockery and criticism on social media, with some users accusing Google of prioritizing “wokeness” over truth and accuracy. Furthermore, it discusses the difficulties faced by AI models in accurately representing diverse populations and the challenges Google has encountered in its AI product rollout.